Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2011-84133 and 2003-170837 disclose a steering apparatus in which a steering shaft on which a steering wheel is attached and a steering column holding the steering shaft moves forward with respect to the vehicle body to absorb the impact load upon a secondary collision. The steering column in the steering apparatus is composed of an upper column and a lower column, which are slidably fitted along a shaft direction. The upper column is held by the vehicle body through a vehicle-mounting bracket. The vehicle-mounting bracket on which the upper column is fixed is fixed to the vehicle body through capsules, and moves forward together with the upper column with detaching from the capsules by given impact of a secondary collision.
There has been a steering apparatus constructed in such a manner that in order to smoothly move the vehicle-mounting bracket forward upon a secondary collision, a guide bracket for guiding a movement of the vehicle-mounting bracket forward is attached to the vehicle body. In the guide bracket, a guide hole is formed parallel to the moving direction of the upper column, and a guide pin fixed to the vehicle-mounting bracket moves forward up to a movement end of the guide hole with being guided by the guide hole. In this manner, with the guide pin being guided by the guide hole, the vehicle-mounting bracket moves forward smoothly.
In the steering apparatus having such a construction that the guide pin in the vehicle-mounting bracket is guided by the guide hole in the guide bracket, when the steering apparatus is in a state before attaching to the vehicle body such as a state during transportation, the guide bracket is held to the vehicle-mounting bracket by only the guide pin. Accordingly, a mounting position of the guide bracket with respect to the vehicle-mounting bracket is shifted by vibrations and the like during transportation even if it has been adjusted to the position capable of being attached to the vehicle body at the beginning. In other words, the guide bracket rotates with respect to the vehicle-mounting bracket centering around the guide pin. As a result, upon attaching the steering apparatus to the vehicle body, the position of the guide bracket has to be adjusted again, so that it takes time to carry out the assembling work.
In the steering apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-84133, a rearward side of a guide member that guides the vehicle-mounting bracket up to a frontward movement end with respect to the vehicle body is attached to capsules, so that it becomes possible to prevent the guide member from falling off from the capsules or shifting the position with respect to the capsules. However, in the steering apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2011-84133, the capsules are held by the guide member in front and rear direction and upper and lower direction with respect to the vehicle body, there is a real possibility that the guide member rotates with respect to the capsules to cause shifting the attaching position of the guide member with respect to the capsules.
Moreover, in the steering apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-170837, a plurality of projections are formed on the capsule so as not to fall off the capsule from the vehicle-mounting bracket upon attaching the steering apparatus to the vehicle body. However, in the steering apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-170837, upon attaching the steering apparatus to the vehicle body, each of the capsules is prevented from falling off from the vehicle-mounting bracket. Accordingly, there is no function to prevent the attaching position of the guide bracket with respect to the vehicle-mounting bracket from shifting.
Moreover, the steering apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2011-84133 and 2003-170837 is not adopted to a steering apparatus that a guide pin fixed to a vehicle-mounting bracket moves forward up to a movement end with being guided by a guide hole of a guide bracket.